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Jocketty has been with the Reds since 2008. He was hired on board in January as a Special Advisor and was later named as the teams general manager in April of that year after Wayne Krivsky was fired. In 2010, he was named as the Sporting News Executive of the Year.

Prior to his stint with the Reds, Jocketty had been the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals since October of 1994. He played an important role in bringing La Russa on as manager. The team was successful throughout his tenure winning seven National League Central Division Championships, including six during a seven year span. They also were National League Champions twice and won the World Series in 2006.

It was an unfamiliar scene at Great American Ballpark Thursday evening when the Cincinnati Reds took to the field in the ninth inning trailing 8-0 against the Atlanta Braves. Instead of seeing a familiar face coming out of the bullpen, Reds fans saw utility player Skip Schumaker ready himself on the pitching rubber.

Cincinnati was attempting to save the bullpen, especially after work they needed early on in the game as well as the week. The inning really didn't end up as bad as many may think. Schumaker threw a scoreless inning walking a batter.

"Whenever you're in the game as a position player pitching, it's the worst-possible scenario because you know you're getting your butt kicked," Schumaker said. "Whenever you're out there, you want to make it as quick as you can and get out of there and not try to make it a circus by walking everybody or, God forbid, hit somebody and hurt somebody."

As the Cincinnati Reds returned from an abysmal road trip in which they were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals, the club had a big opportunity to get back to winning against the Atlanta Braves. However, it wasn't meant to be as the Braves took down the Reds 8-0 Thursday evening at Great American Ballpark.

Reds starter David Holmberg, who was recently recalled from Triple-A Louisville, had an outing that lasted just two and two-thirds of an inning giving up six earned runs on five hits while also walking four batters.

"Definitely not what I wanted to do," Holmberg said. "The team needed a good start. They need to win ballgames. I wanted to go out and try and win a ballgame and didn't execute pitches. Once again, they took advantage of it."

The Braves got the scoring started in the second with a solo home run off the bat of Andrelton Simmons, his seventh of the year. Atlanta blew the game open in the third with a five run inning which was headed by a two-run single by Justin Upton and a run scoring double from Chris Johnson. Evan Gattis and Jason Heyward brought in runs later in the inning to make it 6-0. Holmberg was pulled after a walk to Heyward.

"We were hoping for a few more innings there and it didn't work out," Reds manager Bryan Price said.

The Cincinnati Reds needed someone to step up for Monday's game against the St. Louis Carindals, and they got one from Jay Bruce who went 2-for-5 with a homerun and four runs batted in to go along with a run scored. Unfortunately, it was really the lone bright spot as the Reds fell by a score of 6-5 in extra innings at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The loss put the Reds three games under .500 (61-64), and put them back a season-high nine games behind the NL Central leader Milwaukee Brewers.

"I know nobody wants to hear it when you're three games under .500 and you're fading in the division right now, but I'll tell you, they fight every day," Reds manager Bryan Price said.

The Reds were dealing with a two tough losses on Sunday before making it to St. Louis early Monday morning.

"Considering how we lost those two games yesterday and got in at 4 o'clock this morning to the hotel, they came out early to the ballpark, busted their tails and lost in extra innings in a tough way," said Price. "It stinks to lose, but I'm proud of our guys."

After dropping both games of a double header against the Colorado Rockies which saw the Cincinnati Reds lose leads in both games and give up 20 runs combined, the organization and its fans got a little good news on Monday when it was revealed that the team activated Brandon Phillips and he would return to the lineup prior to tonight's game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Phillips has missed significant time after injuring a tendon in his glove hand which required surgery. He was placed on the disabled list on the 11th of July after trying to make a diving play to his left in which his glove got caught up underneath him.

He was able to attempt to get his rhythm back playing in three minor league games; two with Triple-A Louisville and one with Class-A Dayton. In those two games with the Bats, Phillips was hitless in five official at-bats and also walked once. He collected two hits in three at-bats with the Dragons and was also hit by a pitch.